Salmon and Sea Trout Distribution. 109 



lesson to the fisher lads of historic times when royalty deigned 

 to interest itself in the stake-net and " Kidell " (salmon) 

 fisheries in the creek running up from the spot in question. To 

 round off, salmon in the (Harwich) Stour, and their presence 

 in the nets of the Dungeness (and Rye) fishermen so lately as 

 1898 serve to show the fish sporadically visits our Sea Fisheries 

 District from one extreme to the other.* 



Whether some of the above salmon have been examples 

 reared in the upper waters of the Thames must remain a matter 

 of pure conjecture, for there is no record of smolts or kelts 

 having been found descending ; though the fact that the occur- 

 rence of Thames salmon has followed, not preceded, the formation 

 of hatcheries f suggests the possibility of their being true 

 Thames reared salmon. Still, at the present rate of produce, 

 salmon fishing as a commercial product in the estuary, or 

 angled for in the upper waters, is yet, we fear, far distant. 



(2) The SEA TROUT, or Salmon Trout (S. trutta).This 

 appears to be more numerous than the salmon around our 

 District, and possibly some presumed captures of the latter 

 should be credited to the former fish. Buckland,J in examin- 

 ing a supposed salmon got near Colchester (infra), was led to 

 think that our local small, sluggish rivers might be more fitted 

 for the bull-trout. Mr. Fryer, finding their numbers con- 

 siderable in the Orwell and (Harwich) Stour, questioned if 

 these East Anglian fish were bred in the neighbourhood or 

 wanderers from rivers further north. Then arises the point 

 whether the several Societies' efforts in the Thames, the 



* The above references are not intended as a complete register of salmon captures 

 within our area, but only incidentally illustrating the question at issue. 



t It may be interesting to note the numbers reared by the Thames Angling 



Preservation Society during the first few years of their start 



1861-2 2,300 Salmon ; 1,500 Salmon Trout ; 30,000 Trout. 



1862-3 ... 7,000 40,000 



1863-4 .. 5,500 750 29,700 



1864-5 ... 19,500 800 ,, 17,000 



1865-6 ... 14,500 !00 20,700 



Thus between 1861 and 1886 some 48,000 salmon fry were set free in the Thames. 



To this might be added others set free from hatchery in River Lea, 1866, &c. 



% Land and Water, March, 1867. 



Twenty-ninth Ann. Rep., Inspect. (Engl. and Wales) Salmon and Fresh Water 

 Fisheries for 1889. See also Thirtieth Ann. Rep. of Inspectors for 1891. 



